The United States is facing an increasing truck driver shortage, which has led to protests and strikes.
There are many reasons why truck drivers are protesting across the country. One of the main reasons is that there are simply not enough people willing to fill the job openings. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor projects that there will be more than 250,000 open positions by 2024. Another reason why truck drivers are protesting is that they have seen their wages decrease over the past few years, with some drivers making less than $40,000 per year for working upwards of 70 hours a week.
Why are there so many job openings?
Many companies in the U.S. rely on trucks for shipping their goods from place to place and often don’t have enough people willing to fill these positions. For example, Walmart announced in 2017 that it was going to hire more than 2,500 new truck drivers over a three-year period.
“Why are wages decreasing?”
The average wage for a truck driver in 2016 was $42,450 per year according to Indeed; however in 2019 this number has decreased significantly with many drivers making less than $40,000 per year.
